Ryan Blair’s mother says son had schizophrenia
The man accused of killing another inmate in Audrain County has drug-induced paranoid schizophrenia, according to his mother.
Ryan Blair is accused of killing Michael Eisenhauer.
The Audrain County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that Michael Dale Eisenhauer, 42, of Centralia, was pronounced dead at SSM Hospital in Mexico after an assault by another inmate at about 9 a.m. Thursday. Charges were pending Thursday afternoon against the inmate suspected of assaulting Eisenhauer, Ryan Wade Blair, 27, of Mexico.
“When he is in full-blown schizophrenia, he’s very fearful of everybody,” said his mother Stephanie Ferrell. “He doesn’t believe anything anybody is saying.”
According to Ferrell, he had been on medication for his schizophrenia before he was sent to jail. Once in jail, she said she could no longer afford it.
Blair had been jailed in Audrain County since December on warrants for third-degree assault. Online court records show a judge ordered a mental evaluation in relation to the assault charges.
According to Ferrell, Blair had made a suicide attempt and was in the hospital. She said he attacked a nurse while in a delirious state, resulting in his jail time.
A few days before Eisenhauer’s death, Ferrell said deputies told her that her son had been in a padded cell after a suicide attempt. He had been let out of the cell before Eisenhauer died.
“I wanted to take him to Disney World. I wanted him to see it one day, wanted to just go with the family. I’ve lost all of that,” Ferrell said.
Ferrell said she knew her son needed to face consequences for his actions, but she said she did not believe his current charges are correct.
“I’m not trying to help him get away with murder,” Ferrell said. “I don’t want that. But I feel first degree-murder is too much.”
ABC 17 requested the contract between the Audrain County Jail and its medical provider, but never received it. We also reached out to the Audrain County Sheriff, but were told he did not want to talk
